JP4651018B2 - Method for assigning device addresses to substations of a network, substation for a network and main station for a network - Google Patents

Abstract

A network slave unit address assignment procedure sends initialisation telegrams with part IP (Internet Protocol) addresses from a master station, sets a slave real time communications address, generates a full address from them and sends them in an answer telegram to the master station. Independent claims are included for network slave and master stations using the procedure.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for assignment of device addresses to substations of a network, a substation for a network and a main station for a network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for assigning device addresses to substations of a network by a main station. The invention further relates to a substation and a main station for a network, for example a fieldbus network in automation technology.

Typically, substations that exist in the network have a fixed and unique device address through which each substation is uniquely addressable. The device address is generally called a MAC address and includes a plurality of bytes. Such a device address is normally fixedly set in hardware in a conventional IP communication device, and for each IP communication device usable in the market. Be unique. During the initialization phase of the network, the device addresses of the individual substations are communicated to the main station so that the main station can access the individual substations of the network as desired. Furthermore, an IP address is assigned to a network substation in the initialization phase. These IP addresses are either manually defined or given by DHCP.

  However, normally, if a substation is accessed as desired by the user, an IP address must be determined and entered or an IP address must be assigned to each substation after the initialization phase. I must. This has the disadvantage that the user cannot know the IP address or device address of the substation in the network without looking at the assignment information in the main station, and therefore cannot perform the intended addressing.

  For real-time communication, a communication address is usually assigned to each substation in the network, and the device can be addressed directly in the real-time channel via the communication address.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a method for device address assignment, and yet another object of the present invention is to provide a substation for a network to which the device address is automatically assigned. And to provide a main station for the network.

The problem is that in the method for device address assignment, the network sub-stations are connected via a point-to-point connection, and the initialization telegram is transmitted from the main station to the sub-station as follows: This initialization telegram has a part of the device address, a step of detecting the set communication address of the substation, a complete device address depending on the received part of the device address and depending on the communication address. Resolving by having a step of generating a response telegram including a communication address and / or device address from the device to the main station;
An object of the present invention is to provide a substation for a network having a receiving unit for receiving an initialization telegram from a main station, a communication address providing unit for providing a communication address of the substation, and an initialization telegram Having a control unit for determining a part of the device address from and generating a complete device address depending on the received part of the device address and depending on the communication address, including the device address and / or the communication address Solved by having a transmission unit for transmitting the response telegram,
The above problem is that a main station for a network has a control unit for controlling a network communication and an IP communication channel to provide a part of a device address, and a transmission unit for transmitting an initialization telegram. However, the initialization telegram includes a device address portion and is solved by having a receiving unit for receiving a response telegram including the communication address and / or the complete device address via the IP communication channel.

  Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a method is provided for assigning device addresses to substations in a network. Network substations are connected via point-to-point connections. The method of the present invention comprises the following steps: sending an initialization telegram from the main station to the substation, the initialization telegram having a part of the device address, the substation configured for real-time communication Detecting a communication address, generating a complete device address according to the received part of the device address and by the communication address, transmitting a response telegram including the communication address and / or device address from the substation to the main station. Have.

The purpose of the method of the invention is to assign a device address to the substation and to make the device address known at both the substation and the main station. In principle, the device address can be freely adjusted within a predetermined range, but the device address can be obtained by the user in knowledge of the part of the device address and knowledge of the configurable communication address. Adjusted to Thus, for example, the device address has a plurality of bytes, and a part of these plurality of bytes is known to the user. Furthermore, the communication address for real-time communication can be set manually in the substation, for example, so that the part of the device address known to the user and the communication address also known together are combined together in the substation. Form the complete device address. This eliminates the need for the user to first access a main station having a physical substation assignment list for device addresses to find a device address that matches a given substation.

  In particular, networks with switched networks and amplifiers (repeaters) are known in the context of Ethernet network standards (protocols, network topologies and hardware); networks with switched Ethernet technology are switched Also called a network. The present invention can be used by the Ethernet standard for any type of such network, i.e. for networks configured by repeaters that are switched and / or not switched.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the initialization telegram further comprises a portion of an IP address. The complete IP address of the substation is generated by the received part of the IP address and by the communication address. A response telegram containing the communication address and / or the complete IP address is transmitted from the substation to the main station. Therefore, the full IP address may be generated in any one of the parts and the set communication address of the IP address of the main station or sub-station. Importantly, after the method of the present invention is finished, the IP address exists in both the main station and the substation, so that IP communication takes place in the IP communication channel.

  Alternatively, the generation of the complete IP address of the substation is generated at the main station by the preset part of the IP address and by the transmitted communication address, after which the complete IP as a response to receipt of the response telegram A confirmation telegram containing the address is sent from the main station to the device.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a substation for a network is provided. This substation has a receiving unit for receiving an initialization telegram from the main station. The communication number of the substation is provided by the device number providing unit. Furthermore, a control unit is provided for determining a part of the device address from the initialization telegram and generating a complete device address depending on the received part of the device address and depending on the communication address. A response telegram including a device address and / or a communication address is transmitted by the transmission unit. Thus substations are used for network, this network is to set determines the device address by a configurable communication address. The generation of the device address takes place in the substation and is then transmitted by the transmission unit in the response telegram to the main station.

  According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the control unit further determines a part of the IP address from the initialization telegram and generates a complete IP address by the received part of the IP address and by the communication address. The sending unit is configured to send a response telegram including a communication address and / or a complete IP address depending on whether the substation should generate a complete IP address or the main station should generate a complete IP address Has been. If the response telegram includes only the communication address, the receiving unit is configured to receive a confirmation telegram with the complete IP address as a response to the transmitted response telegram.

  According to yet another aspect of the invention, a main station for a network is provided having a control unit for providing a portion of the device address. Furthermore, the main station has a transmission unit for transmitting an initialization telegram, which initialization telegram includes a part of the device address. Furthermore, a receiving unit is provided for receiving a response telegram including the communication address and / or the complete device address.

  According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the control unit controls the transmitting unit to provide a part of the IP address in the initialization telegram. Further, the receiving unit is configured to receive a confirmation telegram having a complete IP address as a response to receiving the response telegram.

  Advantageous embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a possible network topology of the network,
FIG. 2 shows a block circuit diagram of a substation for the network of FIG.
3 shows a block circuit diagram of the main station for the network of FIG.
FIG. 4 shows a flow chart for explaining the method of the present invention for automatically providing a device address at a substation in the network of FIG.
FIG. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating the method of the present invention for automatic provision of device addresses according to yet another embodiment.

  FIG. 1 shows a ring network, which has a main station 1 and a plurality of substations 2. Each substation 2 has a data input side and a separate data output side, and these data input / output sides are connected to each other via an intermediate amplifier. Network subscribers are connected to each other by network connections, and two communication channels are realized in these network connections. In the first communication channel and the real-time communication channel, the main station 1 transmits a data packet, the first data packet includes data for the substation 2, and the data packet is provided with a predetermined time window. Each of the predetermined time windows is assigned to one of the substations 2. Data within a predetermined time window is read from the data packet by the substation 2. The main station 1 further transmits a second data packet in the real-time communication signal, and this second data packet also has a time window as a space holder for data, and in the time window assigned to each substation 2. The data to be transmitted is inserted and the second data packet modified in this way is forwarded with the inserted data to the next network subscriber. The last substation 2 then returns the second data packet back to the main station 1, which is thus filled with the data transmitted from the substation 2 to the main station.

  In a further communication channel, the IP communication channel, each of the network subscribers, i.e. main station 1 and substation 2, receives data packets when no data packet is applied to each data input of main station 1 and substation 2. Can be sent. That is, as soon as the network is no longer used, one of the network subscribers can send a data packet to convey the data. The real-time communication channel and the IP communication channel are formed by two time domains, and corresponding communication channels are respectively used in these two time domains, and this is performed cyclically one after another.

For communication in the real-time communication channel, a communication address is assigned to each substation 2 of the network. The communication address is set manually in the substation 2 or is preset in advance. Such a communication address may be a number between 1 and 254, for example, and can thus be shown in 1-byte format.

For the IP communication channel, each substation 2 must be assigned a device address . Fieldbus data network illustrated in here, must device address assigned to the sub-station 2. If the substation 2 can also transmit data on the IP communication channel, the substation 2 must also be assigned an IP address.

  As shown in FIG. 2, such a substation 2 has a receiving circuit 3, and this receiving circuit 3 is connected to the data input side E, and can receive data via a network. . Furthermore, a transmission unit 4 for transmitting data to the next network station via the data output side A is provided. The substation 2 further has a control unit 5 for operating different communication channels. An intermediate amplifier 8 is provided between the reception unit 3 and the transmission unit 4, and the intermediate amplifier 8 sends data from the data input side to the data output side during the IP communication channel.

An intermediate amplifier 8 is likewise connected to transfer the data packet from the receiving unit 3 to the transmitting unit 4 in the real-time communication channel, but extracts the data from the corresponding data packet and supplies it to the control unit 5 as well as the data. It can also be inserted into the data packet to be transferred by the control unit 5. Substation 2 expects to receive an initialization telegram for initialization during the initialization phase. This initialization telegram is transferred from the reception unit 3 to the initialization unit 6. The portion of the device address from the received telegrams in the initialization unit 6 is determined, and the set communication address is provided with the portion of the device address by the communication address providing unit 7 are coupled to each other, as a result, a complete A device address is formed. The complete device address is determined, for example, by a simple stitching of this part of the device address with a manually set communication address. Other types of combinations of this part of the device address and the communication address are also conceivable, but it would be advantageous if the user could follow up this combination so that knowing the communication address could easily find the complete device address It is.

  The complete device address is sent from the initialization unit 6 to the network via the transmission unit 4 as a response telegram, so that the main station 1 is informed of the device address assigned to the substation 2.

  Similarly, the initialization telegram can include a portion of the IP address, which is combined with the communication address for real-time communication in the initialization unit 6 to form a complete IP address that is unique. The complete IP address is also sent to the main station 1 via the transmission unit 4 in the response telegram, so that there is a fixed assignment between the complete IP address and the substation 2 in the main station 1. It will be.

  In an alternative embodiment, the initialization unit 6 transmits a communication address to the main station 1 via the direct transmission unit 4, which is provided by the communication address providing unit 7. In this case, the initialization telegram does not necessarily include the device address part. As soon as the main station 1 receives the communication address, the main station is communicated in a defined manner with the complete device address and the complete IP address by the preset part of the device address and the preset part of the IP address. These are determined depending on the communication address, and these are transmitted to the substation 2 in the confirmation telegram.

An embodiment of the main station is illustrated in FIG. The main station 10 has a receiving unit 11 and a transmitting unit 12, which are connected to the substation 2 by corresponding network lines. The main station 10 likewise has an initialization unit 13 which is controlled by the control unit 15 to form an initialization telegram which is sent out via the transmission unit 12. The initialization telegram contains a part of the device address, which is received by the substation 2 and processed into a complete device address with the help of the communication address set there.

  As a response telegram, the main station 10 receives the complete device address by means of the receiving unit 11 so that an assignment between the complete device address and the substation can be made in the memory 14 of the main station. Similarly, the initialization telegram includes a portion of the IP address, which can be completed at the substation and sent back to the main station 10 via the response telegram. Alternatively, the main station 10 can receive the complete device address in the response telegram, generate a complete IP address from it, and send a confirmation telegram to the substation 2 via the transmission unit 12, resulting in this There is also a unique IP address assigned to this substation 2 as well.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart for explaining the method of the present invention. The method of the invention relates to initialization and device address and IP address assignment in a network, for example a fieldbus network for automation technology. For initialization, the main station transmits an initialization telegram, which includes a part of the device address and / or a part of the IP address, which is received by the substation. The substation first detects the configured communication address for real-time communication, and generates a complete device address as well as a complete IP address therefrom. A response telegram with the complete device address and complete IP address is then transmitted from the substation to the main station. This ensures that the complete device address and the complete IP address are present at both the substation and the main station, so that there is an assignment between the substation and the complete device address and the complete IP address at the main station. It will be.

An alternative method is illustrated in FIG. Here, an initialization telegram is transmitted from the main station, whereby the substation is required to detect the communication address set there and transmit it to the main station in a response telegram. The complete device address and complete IP address are then generated at the main station depending on the device address portion and IP address portion and the transmitted communication address, followed by the complete device address and complete IP address. A confirmation telegram having an address is transmitted to the substation.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, by setting the IP address is also fixedly in advance instead of the communication address, for example manually can be set, is derived a communication address for future real-time communication. In this case, the communication address corresponds to the IP address, and the complete IP address is determined by a fixed and preset IP address.

For example, if 5 is set as the communication address of the real-time communication channel, in one example, the device address and the IP address similarly end with 5, for example, 192.168.0.5 as the IP address. Therefore, the first 3 bytes of the IP address are sent from the main station to the substation by the initialization telegram, so that 255 different IP addresses can be given.

  Arbitrarily, an address timeout arrangement is possible, so that the learned part of the address is variable even during operation of the substation.

  Alternatively, each substation 2 of the data network can be assigned a device address and an IP address by the initialization method of the present invention, but the device address and the IP address can be fixedly preset by an input unit, for example. It is also possible to configure so that these addresses can be input to this input unit.

  If an arrangement has been made for the IP address normally reserved in the data network, the substation can further check whether the main station has the same IP address as the substation itself. If this substation identifies that the main station has the same address, this substation uses the new IP address taken from the reserved area.

Fig. 2 shows a possible network topology of the network. 2 shows a block circuit diagram of a substation for the network of FIG. 2 shows a block circuit diagram of a main station for the network of FIG. 2 shows a flow chart for explaining the method of the present invention for automatically providing device addresses at substations in the network of FIG. 6 shows a flow chart for explaining the method of the present invention for automatic provision of device addresses according to yet another embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main station 2 Substation 3 Reception unit 4 Transmission unit 5 Control unit 6 Initialization unit 7 Communication address provision unit 8 Intermediate amplifier 10 Main station 11 Reception unit 12 Transmission unit 13 Initialization unit 14 Memory 15 Control unit

Claims (2)

In a method for assigning device addresses to network substations,
The substations of the network are connected via a point-to-point connection ;
From the main station to the sub-station, it sends initialization telegram comprising a portion of the device address step,
The set communication address of the substation is detected in the sub-station, sending to the main station in response telegram,
In the main station, depending on the set communication address of the part content及 beauty substation device address to generate a full device address, and, by a preset portion and the communication address of the IP address Generating a complete IP address corresponding to the substation ;
A method for assigning a device address to a substation of a network , comprising sending the complete device address and complete IP address from the main station to the substation in a confirmation telegram . In the main station (10) for the network,
The network has substations;
A control unit (15) for controlling network communication and IP communication channels and providing a part of the device address of said substation ;
A transmission unit (12) and a reception unit (11);
The control unit (15) controls the transmission unit (12) to transmit a part of the device address to the substation in an initialization telegram.
A response telegram transmitted by the substation in response to the initialization telegram, the response telegram including the communication address set by the substation being received by the receiving unit (11);
In the main station (10), a complete device address is generated depending on the part of the device address and the communication address set in the substation, and the predetermined part of the IP address and the communication address A complete IP address corresponding to the substation is generated,
Main station (10) for a network, characterized in that the complete device address and the complete IP address are transmitted by the transmitting unit (12) in a confirmation telegram to the substation.

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